Opioids Synthetic Drugs

“The total "economic burden" of prescription opioid misuse alone in the United States is $78.5 billion a year, including the costs of healthcare, lost productivity, addiction treatment, and criminal justice involvement”. -The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

As better and more comprehensive education is provided both to the general public and practicing clinicians the hope is to reduce the negativity surrounding the users of opioids, and to eliminate demeaning language coupled to them as well. This could improve patient morale and help the needless continuation of physical suffering within patients, as they would be more comfortable approaching and using opioids for therapeutic purposes1. That being said there are those within our communities who do abuse these substances and pharmacists must recognize the signs of abusers, it is important for them to reach out, without comment, to help those suffering from opioid abuse once they have been

Did you know that 91 Americans die every day due to an Opioid overdose and yet American’s still report no relief of pain? Since 1999 the number of deaths due to prescriptions opioid or heroin overdose has quadrupled (http://www.cdc.gov). Four out of five Americans turned to the black market for heroin, which initially started as an opioid drug addiction. It is an American crisis, due to the number of individuals that consume oxycodone, which accounts for eight-one percent of Americans (http://www.drugabuse.gov).

It is important for our culture in western society to educate doctors on how to modify and limit their prescribing behavior so that less people become dependent on opioid medication. Doctors must start limiting and monitoring the number of opioid prescriptions they administer to patients. Limiting the number of prescriptions will lower the chances for potential abuse within patients, as well as lower the ease of access and circulation of opioid medication on the streets.

Opioids, otherwise known as prescription pain medication, are used to treat acute and chronic pain. They are the most powerful pain relievers known. When taken as directed they can be safe and effective at managing pain, however, opioids can be highly addictive. Ease of access helps people get pain medications through their physician or by having friends and family get the medication for them. With their ease of access and being highly addictive the use and misuse of opioids have become a growing epidemic. Patients should be well educated on the affects opioid use can have. More importantly instead of the use of opioids, physicians should look into alternative solutions for pain management. While pain medication is helpful with chronic pain, it is also highly addictive, doctors should be more stringent to whom and how often they prescribe pain medication.

As we all have researched and found out the devastating numbers to the opioid epidemic “the abuse of prescription and non-prescription opioids is one of the greatest threats facing public health in the United States today. It is estimated that as many as 2.5 million people in the US are suffering from opioid addiction related to prescriptions, and an additional 467,000 are addicted to heroin”(2017).

The Opioid Crisis has grown tremendously throughout the years, the number of opioid prescriptions dispensed by doctors steadily increased from 112 million prescriptions in 1992 to a peak of 282 million in 2012, according to the market research firm IMS Health. The number of prescriptions dispensed has since declined, falling to 236 million in 2016.(CNN, Opioid Crisis Fun Facts, 2018, P6.). In 2016 there was 63,600 overdoses and 42,249 came from opioids, these drugs are getting easier to buy off the streets, so more people buy them because they are cheaper than some but get you the same high that they want from the other drugs. People get prescription drugs from either stealing them, or other people sell them to them, or they can even get them from their family, but they end up selling

Opioids are a class of drugs that are designed to relieve pain. They are synthetic forms of the naturally occurring opiate opium along with morphine and codeine, which are parts of the opium poppy. Prescription opioids include the painkillers hydrocodone (Vicodin), oxycodone (OxyContin, Percocet), fentanyl (Duragesic), meperidine (Demerol), and hydromorphone (Dilaudid), amongst others. Opioids of this variety are prescribed for a variety of reasons ranging from severe acute pain resulting from injury to post surgery pain relief. Illicit opioids include heroin and any opioids that are not taken are prescribed. While helpful in treating pain that needs immediate attention, prescription opioids are not ideal to treat chronic pain. Opioids, both prescribed and illicit, are highly addictive and potentially dangerous.

The opioid epidemic has been the worst thing that has happened to our community or our country as a whole, much of which might have be prevented if doctor’s were not so quick to prescribe prescription after prescription of opioids on to their patients. According to Nora D. Volkow, Director, of the NIDA, The Federal government has provided restrictions on the over use of prescription medications and because individuals have developed dependence on the prescription opioids they resort to obtaining them illegally, and in some cases they are resorting to heroin for it is cheaper and easier to obtain (NIDA). Yes, these individuals have a choice to take them, and for a while they are alright, although as seen above the continued use can cause dependence which will cause withdrawal if they do not have these medications leading many to illegally obtaining and using these drugs. This is one reason one fights to see more treatment centers people can go, more harm reduction therapies that are going to help them become clean and live lives that are functional and socially

In the United States, there has been upward swing of opioid abuse over the past decade. Overdose deaths involving opioids – both prescription pain relievers and heroin – almost quadrupled between 1999 and 2014. Well-intentioned efforts to curb prescription opioid abuse have yielded new policies with unfortunate, unforeseen consequences for the 15% of the US population that suffer from chronic pain – nearly 45 million people.

Apart from the medical impact of the opioid epidemic, the epidemic also has a big economic impact. 420 billion dollars a year is the estimated cost on our nation in the form of healthcare costs, crime and lost economic productivity relating to substance abuse disorders like opiate abuse. 81 billion dollars a year is the estimated cost, drug abuse imposes on employers. These are just a few numbers that show the huge financial consequences caused by the opioid

The United States currently faces an unprecedented epidemic of opioid addiction. This includes painkillers, heroin, and other drugs made from the same base chemical. In the couple of years, approximately one out of twenty Americans reported misuse or abuse of prescriptions painkillers. Heroin abuse and overdoses are on the rise and are the leading cause of injury deaths, surpassing car accidents and gun shots. The current problem differs from the opioid addiction outbreaks of the past in that it is also predominant in the middle and affluent classes. Ultimately, anyone can be fighting a battle with addiction and it is important for family members and loved ones to know the signs. The cause for this epidemic is that the current spike of opioid abuse can be traced to two decades of increased prescription rates for painkillers by well-meaning physicians.

From teenagers to adults, many are suffering with an opioid addiction. The opioid crisis that has struck, has taken a significantly large amount of lives. There were about “...50,000 [ opioid ] overdose deaths...in 2015-roughly equivalent to the number of Americans lost in the Vietnam War”(Price). All these friends and family members are dying because of something that can be controlled and even avoided. Although there are some who believe that the programs that are enacted to help with this sort of addiction are very effective, the truth is they are not as effective as people let on to believe. There should be a more enforced and regulated limit for those with a stronger prescription drug in order to lower the overdose count, over prescription from doctors, and pill shopping.

Chronic pain is an important public health problem that negatively impacts the quality of life of affected individuals and exacts a tremendous cost in both healthcare costs and lost productivity. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) in its landmark report on relieving pain in American estimated that 100 million individuals suffer from chronic pain at a socio-economic cost of between $560 and $635 billion annually [IOM, 2011]. Opioids have been increasingly prescribed for the management of chronic pain, and along with this increase in use has come an increase in opioid misuse and abuse. Of the opioids that are abused, 60% are obtained directly or indirectly through a physician’s prescription.

Opioid addiction is so prevalent in the healthcare system because of the countless number of hospital patients being treated for chronic pain. While opioid analgesics have beneficial painkilling properties, they also yield detrimental dependence and addiction. There is a legitimate need for the health care system to provide powerful medications because prolonged pain limits activities of daily living, work productivity, quality of life, etc. (Taylor, 2015). Patients need to receive appropriate pain treatment, however, opioids need to be prescribed after careful consideration of the benefits and risks.